My Love Is Your Love and Whitney: The Greatest Hits
After spending much of the early and mid-1990s working on motion
pictures and their soundtrack albums, Houston's first studio album in
eight years, the critically acclaimed My Love Is Your Love,
was released in November 1998. Though originally slated to be a
greatest hits album with a handful of new songs, recording sessions were
so fruitful that a new full-length studio album was released. Recorded
and mixed in only six weeks, it featured production from Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean and Missy Elliott. The album debuted at number thirteen, its peak position, on the Billboard 200 chart. It had a funkier and edgier sound than past releases and saw Houston handling urban dance, hip hop, mid-tempo R&B, reggae, torch songs, and ballads all with great dexterity.
From late 1998 to early 2000, the album spawned several hit singles: "When You Believe" (US No. 15, UK No. 4), a duet with Mariah Carey for 1998's
The Prince of Egypt soundtrack, which also became an international hit as it peaked in the Top 10 in several countries and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song;
"Heartbreak Hotel" (US No. 2, UK No. 25) featured Faith Evans and Kelly Price, received a 1999 MTV VMA nomination for Best R&B Video
and number one on the US R&B chart for seven weeks; "It's Not Right But It's Okay" (US No. 4, UK No. 3) won Houston her sixth Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance;
"My Love Is Your Love" (US No. 4, UK No. 2) with 3 million copies sold worldwide;
and "I Learned from the Best" (US No. 27, UK No. 19).
These singles became international hits as well, and all the singles, except "When You Believe", became number one hits on the
Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play
chart. The album sold four million copies in America, making it
certified 4× platinum, and a total of eleven million copies worldwide.
The album gave Houston some of her strongest reviews ever.
Rolling Stone said Houston was singing "with a bite in her voice"
and
The Village Voice called it "Whitney's sharpest and most satisfying so far".
In 1999, Houston participated in VH-1's Divas Live '99, alongside Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Tina Turner, and Cher. The same year, Houston hit the road with her 70 date
My Love Is Your Love World Tour. The European leg of the tour was Europe's highest grossing arena tour of the year.
In November 1999, Houston was named Top-selling R&B Female Artist
of the Century with certified US sales of 51 million copies at the time
and
The Bodyguard Soundtrack was named the Top-selling Soundtrack Album of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
She also won The Artist of the Decade, Female award for extraordinary artistic contributions during the 1990s at the 14th Soul Train Music Awards, and an MTV Europe Music Award for Best R&B.
In May 2000,
Whitney: The Greatest Hits
was released worldwide. The double disc set peaked at number five in
the United States, reaching number one in the United Kingdom.
In addition, the album reached the Top 10 in many other countries.
While ballad songs were left unchanged, the album features house/club remixes of many of Houston's up-tempo hits. Included on the album were four new songs: "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" (a duet with Enrique Iglesias), "Same Script, Different Cast" (a duet with Deborah Cox), "If I Told You That" (a duet with George Michael), and "Fine",
and three hits that had never appeared on a Houston album: "One Moment
in Time", "The Star Spangled Banner", and "If You Say My Eyes Are
Beautiful", a duet with Jermaine Jackson from his 1986
Precious Moments album.
Along with the album, an accompanying VHS and DVD was released
featuring the music videos to Houston's greatest hits, as well as
several hard-to-find live performances including her 1983 debut on
The Merv Griffin Show, and interviews.
The greatest hits album was certified 3× platinum in the US, with worldwide sales of 10 million.
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